PathSource - VETERINARIAN: In Fast-Paced Hospital, Treating Dozens Of Animals Per Day

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VETERINARIAN: In Fast-Paced Hospital, Treating Dozens Of Animals Per Day

About this video

Dr. Matt describes his day as a Veterinarian at a pet hospital, treating mostly cats and dogs but also sometimes rabbits, mice, rats, and chickens. He loves his fast-paced work, seeing patients every 20 minutes and performing 4-8 surgeries in a day. His advice: seek employment at a vet's office while you're still in high school. Vet schools require many hours of experience before even applying, and you can get a head start!

Degree: Veterinary Medicine

Job Title: Veterinarian

Job Summary: Veterinarians

Job Description

Veterinarians care for the health of animals. They diagnose, treat, or research medical conditions and diseases of pets, livestock, and animals in zoos, racetracks, and laboratories.

The following are common types of veterinarians:

Companion animal veterinarians treat pets and generally work in private clinics. According to the American Veterinary Medical Association, 77 percent of veterinarians who work in private clinical practice treat pets. They most often care for cats and dogs, but also treat other pets, such as birds, ferrets, and rabbits. These veterinarians diagnose animal health problems, consult with owners of animals, and carry out medical procedures, such as vaccinations and setting fractures.

Equine veterinarians work with horses. About 6 percent of private practice veterinarians treat horses.

Food animal veterinarians work with farm animals such as pigs, cattle, and sheep. About 8 percent of private practice veterinarians treat food animals. They spend much of their time at farms and ranches treating illnesses and injuries and testing for and vaccinating against disease. They also may advise owners or managers about feeding, housing, and general health practices.

Food safety and inspection veterinarians inspect livestock and animal products and enforce government food safety regulations. They may inspect livestock, checking the animals for E. coli and other transmittable diseases. They check for food purity and sanitation by inspecting food products, animals and carcasses, and slaughtering and processing plants. Others may work along the country’s borders in food safety and security, ensuring abundant and safe food supplies.

Research veterinarians work in laboratories, conducting clinical research on human and animal health problems. These veterinarians may perform tests on animals to identify the effects of drug therapies, or they may test new surgical techniques. They may also research how to prevent, control, or eliminate food- and animal-borne illnesses and diseases.

On-the-Job Training

Limited.

Additional Info

When deciding whom to admit, some veterinary medical colleges weigh experience heavily. Formal experience, such as work with veterinarians or scientists in clinics, agribusiness, research, or some area of health science, is particularly advantageous. Less formal experience, such as working with animals on a farm, at a stable, or in an animal shelter, can also be helpful.

Certification Requirement

Optional.

Quick Facts

Average salary

National Statistic Change Location

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$50,000 - $150,000

Projected Job Growth

30 to 40 percent

Typical schedule

Full-time, Long hours, Irregular

Typical workplace

Office, Outdoor, Indoor, Hospital / Clinic

Personal Qualities

Patience, Problem solving skills, Analytical skills, Verbal communication skills, People skills, Empathy

Educational Path

Education Requirement

Doctorate

Recommended Education Degree

Doctorate

Recommended Majors

Veterinary Studies
Biology
Animal Sciences
Animal Biology
Zoology
Microbiological Sciences and Immunology
Biochemistry
Chemistry
Physiology

Related Careers

Agricultural and Food Scientists
Animal Care and Service Workers
Medical Scientists
Physicians and Surgeons
Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers
Veterinary Technologists and Technicians
Zoologists and Wildlife Biologists

View Detailed Career Data

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P3.instances[0].transcript.parse_transcript_data({"transcript":"Hi, my name is Matt Judd, and I'm a veterinarian. So I guess I'm Dr. Judd. So the kinds of animals that I treat are mostly dogs and cats, but we get some rabbit patients, some rats and mice, and occasionally birds. Chickens are probably the most popular right now. And I was trained to work on horses and other livestock for the first few years. My first few years out of school, I did a lot of horses and livestock, but I sort of focused in on dogs and cats more recently. A typical day here at our pet hospital, I see patients in the morning for about three hours. And I see a patient every 20 minutes, so I'll see about a dozen patients. And then depending on the day, I'll either eat my lunch real fast, or I will go into surgery. And if it's a surgery day, I'll be in and out of the surgery room with a bunch of surgeries, including mostly cat spays and neuters, dog spays and neuters, but then we do some bigger procedures. And so I'll probably do anywhere from four to eight surgeries. And then in the afternoon, I go back to appointments every 20 minutes, and it's sort of fast and furious. But it's really, really fun and varied. And every day the appointments are wild. You can see anything. Anything can come in from a vaccine, to a dog with a broken leg, and everything in the middle. So it's great. In college, I went to school at UC-Davis, which is a big college with a lot of exposure to agriculture. And I had grown up in the Central Valley, where my neighbor was a cow vet growing up. And being at Davis, with exposure to all the agriculture there, I got excited about livestock medicine. And that sort of took me to working at the vet school for a few years and ended up going to veterinary college at Ohio State, the Ohio State University. Go Buckeyes. And that was really fun. And eventually we moved back to California, and we worked on large animals for a while, my wife and I. And now we're here in the Bay Area working on dogs and cats and having a blast. I wish I knew when I was in high school. It would have made my career a lot, lot easier if I would have sought employment at a veterinary office. And I never really knew that that was a big part of it, but even applying to school you needed to have a certain number of hours, maybe like a year's worth, of working in a veterinary hospital before you even applied. So get going on that in high school because then you'll have more time when you're an adult. ","file":{"id":318405,"video_id":"2910893814001","name":"1599-Matt-Veterinarian1","duration":169065,"thumbnail_url":null}});